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This winery was great! The setting and tasting room are beautiful! The wines were excellent! Our server was excellent. We learned a lot about the wines! It was a personal experience! Our server was also knowledgeable about the area and gave great recommendations!

Ask TheaRC1 about Barren Ridge Vineyards

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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.

We arrived on a Saturday afternoon when they were preparing to host a wedding, so the normal tasting room was not open. We were directed to the "Tasting Cabin," a small, non-descript pre-fab building located behind the actual facility. Wines? Just okay; nothing we got really excited about. Atmosphere -- we have been to Barren Ridge before, and the tasting room is nice; however the "Tasting Cabin" - not so much. The person who poured the wines, while friendly, was not all that knowledgeable. Suggestions: Maybe decide whether you are a winery or an event space, because you are not equipped to do both things well, at least simultaneously. 'If you have a wedding, just close the winery down for it.

All in all, not a particularly pleasant experience. With so many other wineries in the area, I can't think of a reason to return to Barren Ridge.

Ask Steven R about Barren Ridge Vineyards

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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.

Barrenridge, Owner at Barren Ridge Vineyards, responded to this reviewResponded June 26, 2013

Dear Steven,

Thank you very much for your honest feedback. We strive to give all of our guests an outstanding experience when they visit Barren Ridge, whether we are hosting an event or not, and are sorry to hear that your visit was not what you were hoping for.

Like many small wineries, we rely heavily on weddings and other events to help sustain the rest of our business. We are simply not large enough to support our vineyard and winery operations on wine sales alone. Therefore we are not able to choose between being either a winery or an event space at this time.

Our primary purpose, however, is to make superb wines and also to provide a welcoming environment for our guests to relax and enjoy themselves. The Cabin represents a way for us to offer hospitality to all would-be guests—whether they are involved in the wedding or are just in search of a beautiful place to enjoy a glass of wine with friends while watching the sunset. Many of our guests compliment us on providing a back-up location for tastings, and we suspect that most Saturday afternoon visitors would be very disappointed if we simply closed down during weddings.

Concerning the staff member who poured for you, thank you for letting us know that more training is needed for our newer employees. We take pride in our great staff, and always hope to offer our guests an interesting, informative, and enjoyable conversation about our award-winning wines.

Whether you return to Barren Ridge or not, thank you again for your feedback and for supporting Virginia wine.

Sincerely,

John and Shelby Higgs

Report response as inappropriateThank you. We appreciate your input.

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC.